Down The Rabbit Hole
by pandoralily
Summary: Alice is the strongest person alive and doesn't fear anything or anyone. She works for L, the Greatest Detective in the world, but as they approach the Kira case, Alice begins to understand that there is more to her than meets the eye. In a great race against death itself, Alice must learn to adapt, or she, and everyone else, will die. For the first time ever, Alice is scared. L/OC
1. Chapter 1

new fanfic while i got others to write i know, but idc i'm gonna keep doing this

updates will probably be sporadic and slow while i finish uni and move house, but im really enjoying writing this so who knows?

I hope you guys enjoy Alice and her weirdness so enjoy!

I only own Alice and anything else you don't recognise

* * *

Chapter 1

"The World's Strongest Woman"

When she awoke it was to darkness and pain. She grimaced.

She searched for answers behind closed eyes, her brain thumping and hurting at the effort and she cringed in horror when all she found was a big, black hole where her memories should be.

She had no idea where she was, or who she was. She was terrified.

Beeping reached her ears, and she blearily opened her eyes to a blinding stark whiteness that chased away any remains of the darkness. She missed it, the darkness was painless, it was safe.

"You need to stay awake," a voice said. Monotone and still, like a an undisturped lake.

She shook her head, "I don't want to..." she whispered, fear clawing at her gullet.

The voice didn't reply, but she heard a something metal clink against something porcelain, so she reasoned that the man must still be there.

The silence was long, but not uncomfortable.

Eventually, she opened her eyes.

The man was pale, with a mess of black hair and deep soulful eyes. He sat almost like a frog, and he was staring those dark soulful straight into her.

"Where am I?" she asked him.

He didn't drop his gaze, even as he added far more sugar cubes than necessary into his tea, he stared at her as if she was the abyss. She stared right back.

Another moment passed and still neither let their gaze up, and eventually the man diverted his eyes to his tea.

"You are in a private hospital." he finally replied.

"That means nothing, I know I'm in a hospital, _where_ am I?" She iterated, eyes narrowing.

The man seemed undisturbed by her tone, a small smirk lilted his pale lips, "California, USA."

She frowned again, "You're British, I'm British, I can hear it, were we travelling together? Do I know you?" She questioned.

The man seemed surprised but he quickly squashed the emotion. But she still saw it.

"We do not." Was all he said, offering no more explanation.

Her nose scrunched in annoyance, "You need to elaborate."

He shook his head, "I do not need to do anything."

"I will find out eventually." She reasoned.

The man smiled at her, "And how will you do that? I deduce that you don't even know who you are. Do you remember anything?"

She swallowed thickly, shaking her head.

He smiled again, "I thought not," he added more sugar into his tea, "you can call me L." If he was waiting for any indication of recognition from her then he never received it.

"L?" She said, crossing her arms, "Not your real name, I take it?"

He smirked this time, "You will never find out my real name."

She snorted, "And I doubt you'll find out mine unless I remember,"

"What makes you think I don't know your name?" He countered.

She was quick, quicker than he thought, "You haven't used it and we don't know each other. You're not a doctor, or a nurse, and you speak to me with little emotion. We literally have no history."

He was silent after that, biting his thumb as he kept staring through her.

The clock was ticking in the room, disturbing the silence as the two regarded each other.

"Alice."

She was surprised, "What?"

"That's what I'll call you; Alice Cadogan." He said, leaving no room for argument.

Alice nodded, "That's suitable."

Silence was their companion for a short time, Alice counted each tick of the clock but she refused to be the first one to speak. From what she had learned of L in the short time they had known each other, he was secretive and cunning, strange and elusive, calm and raging. He was a contradictory of traits and Alice knew that he was testing her from the moment she opened her eyes.

He still hadn't answered why she was in a hospital either.

"There are a few...tests...that I need to conduct on you." He said simply.

Alice narrowed her eyes, "Tests? Weird ones?"

He smiled enigmatically, "Perhaps,"

"And do I get to say 'no'?" She asked mistrustfully.

L let out a small chuckle, "Of course you can, but I will conduct them anyway."

She wasn't certain what she made of that response but Alice had nothing. She didn't even know her name and her only hope of survival in this unknown world was with L, whether she wanted to or not.

"The first test is to lift that safe." He said, extending a thin arm and pointing an equally thin finger at the large safe in the corner.

Alice grunted, crossing her arms, "You're kidding, right? There's no way I'll be able to pick that up." Yet, she moved from her bed, ripping out her IV carelessly and walking on wobbly legs to the safe.

She was short, very short actually, that was the first thing she noticed about herself, and her hair was long and blonde, from what she could see without a mirror anyway.

L spoke, "It weighs 1500lbs, by the way." Alice rolled her eyes.

"Alright," she said under her breath, bending down and gently laying her hands on the safe, "hope you're ready to be disappointed!" She called over to L behind her. He stayed silent.

Alice grounded herself, bare feet placed firmly on the cold tiled floor as she squatted and braced herself to attempt to life the safe. It would be heavy and even if she wasn't injured she doubted she would be able to move it even a centimetre.

And then, she lifted the safe high into the air as if it weighed nothing.

For a one long, torturous moment, Alice held the safe above her, eyes wide in disbelief as it stayed suspended in her small hands. She couldn't hear L, nor could she see him, everything was washed away by the sheer force of realisation that hit her; she was holding a 1500lbs safe as if it were a feather.

And then she screamed, dropping the safe on her head, body scrunched together as the safe's metal curved and bended, falling to the ground and leaving Alice untouched.

She fainted.

* * *

In a few months Alice had successfully managed to accomplish each task Ryuzaki, the name that L insisted she used for him, set her and each technique in training that Watari had taught her.

Several cases were completed, and Alice understood why Ryuzaki specifically wanted an actress as his partner. Suspects were idiotic and greatly underestimated Alice's abilities by her miniscule appearance.

Shinji was none the wiser to his girlfriend's job either, Alice had been careful to ensure that, she had told him that a "wealthy benefactor had requested an assistant with much better pay than any old job could offer" not exactly a lie but she didn't really tell the truth.

Alice had also fallen into a simple companionship with Ryuzaki, he was often by her side or whispering his her earpiece to give directions. Alice even sent him pictures of things she thought were funny.

"Can you see the door yet?" Alice heard Ryuzaki say through her earpiece.

She crept along the hallway leading to Mr Iwata's office, a corrupt businessman who was secretly funding a war in the Middle East to gain power and expand his business over in Iran. But L had found out, because he _always_ finds out, and decided to stop the would-be dictator.

"Nearly," Alice whispered, ducking into a small alcove as a security guard passed by her, mumbling about his boss and ungodly hours, before she stealthily continued towards the door at the end of the hallway.

The lock was a combination of traditional and digital, and it also looked like a _pain in the ass_ to crack open.

"Fuck." She whispered softly, "It's encoded, what do I do?"

Ryuzaki answered without fail, like always, "You've cracked worse, Alice."

" _I_ _know_ ," she said, before quieting her voice and checking behind her for security, "but this is _real_ and does not contain your favourite cake behind it." She snapped.

"Calm down and listen to me." Ryuzaki ordered calmly.

Alice calmed her breathing, still conscious of the security guard walking past the corridor and begging that he didn't shine his light down the hallway.

"Okay," she said, "first I pick the easy lock." She pulled out her lock picks, "I can do that."

"Don't set off the alarm, those guards are paid to kill anyone that gets to the boss' door on sight." Ryuzaki said, around a mouthful cake, Alice thought from the muffled tone of his voice.

She scowled, carefully twisting her lock pick, "I wish you hadn't told me that."

"Just being honest with you, Alice."

Alice snorted, "That's a first."

"Focus." Ryuzaki sounded as stern as a man could while eating cake.

The lock broke free and Alice muffled her whoop of victory before turning her gaze to the digital lock. This one was going to be much, _much_ harder.

"It's got a fingerprint." She whispered, squinting her eyes as she made out the tiny fingerprint left on the scanner, "And I think it's got an eye one too."

Ryuzaki swallowed his cake, "You can bypass the eye one if you get into the fingerprint one and hack the system."

Alice groaned, "You make that sound way easier than it actually is."

"I make everything sound easy."

Ryuzaki could almost hear Alice smirking, "I'll be sure to tell your future girlfriend that."

Alice reached into her pocket, pulling out powder foundation, a brush, and a plaster. She lightly put some powder foundation on the finger scanner and pressed the plaster to it, watching as the scanner flashed green before returning blue, signally that the fingerprint was successful.

Now, this was the tricky bit.

Alice carefully detached the cover of the eye scanner, being very careful not to trigger any alarms, and delicately attached her smart phone, specifically used for hacking, to the wires that connected the finger print scanner to the eye scanner.

And now, she had to enter in a sequence code to shut down the scanner without setting off any alarms which meant she had to get it right on the first try.

No pressure then.

"Let me see it." Alice heard Ryuzaki in her earpiece and quickly adjusted her position so the camera attached to her night goggles, a ridiculous but useful item, could see what she was doing.

"Right…" It was rather disconcerting to hear Ryuzaki concerned, "So this may end up being harder than I initially thought…"

Alice rolled her eyes, "You owe me the last slice of cake when I get back."

"You're not having it."

"Yes I am, with a really big strawberry on top." She grinned.

Ryuzaki didn't sound impressed, "Nope."

"And I'll eat slowly, with a shiny fork, right in front of you as I lick all that icing off…"

Ryuzaki took a deep, exhasberated breath, "Please stop making eating a cake sound erotic."

Alice giggled, "Didn't know you were into that, Ryuzaki." She flirted.

" _Alice._ " He was using his warning voice again, the one which basically told Alice to shut up and focus on the job at hand.

"Right sorry," she waved him off, focusing again on the hacking, "so what do I do?"

Alice nodded as she listened to Ryuzaki's instructions, her fingers quickly tapping away at the touch screen whilst she input the sequence of numbers Ryuzaki was calmly whispering into her ear.

She grunted, her leg beginning to feel numb from the awkward couching position Alice was in as she carefully hacked the lock, careful to not set off the alarm.

Alice let out a sigh of relief as she heard it click and the red light turn green.

"Hello?"

The young woman stilled, pressing her dark-clad body against the wall and prayed for the security guard not to find her. Guns may have been banned in Japan but people still carried them, albeit illegally.

Seconds ticked by but the guard didn't walk forward, merely flashed his torch around in the darkness carelessly, as if he himself couldn't really be bothered to search for a nuisance.

"Fucking rats…" he muttered before walking away down the corridor.

She heard Ryuzaki sigh in her earpiece and Alice joined him in their silent victory. As quiet as a mouse, Alice slipped through the unlocked door of Mr Iwata's office, grateful that she had shut off the security cameras beforehand.

"Okay," she whispered, "what am I looking for?" The office was dark but Alice was wearing night vision goggles and could clearly see everything.

"There should be a desk with a large padlock on it's bottom drawer." Ryuzaki said, his words slightly muffled from his tea.

Alice nodded her understanding, adjusting her night vision goggles as they wavered.

The office was surprisingly compact for a man of Mr Iwata's status, but it was messy and even had an old mug of stale coffee. The walls and boards were plastered with notes and diagrams and Alice was certain she'd die of boredom if she even took a quick gander at them.

"What a dull man..." she whispered, walking around the desk silently and crouching before it.

Ryuzaki chuckled, "You think everyone's dull,"

Alice grinned, "Mostly," her grin was quickly replaced by a frown as she fingered the padlock, "Do I have to pick it? Or can I just breaky-break?"

She didn't need to see Ryuzaki's to know he was frowning disapprovingly, "You're only to use your 'talents' in case of emergencies."

She rolled her eyes, "I mean this is kind of an emergency," her hand wrapped around the padlock, tugging a few times, "It would be super easy and quick too." She reasoned.

"No, Alice." Ryuzaki said sternly.

"Fine," she conceded, "but I still stand by my opinion,"

BANG! Alice jumped as the door to the office opened violently. She crammed herself under the desk and noticed that in her shock that she had ripped the padlock clean off the drawer.

Voices sounded in front of the desk and Alice could see three pairs of polished shoes from beneath the crack of the desk.

"I swear I heard a voice..." said one voice, the guard from earlier, "I thought the noise was rats but rats can't talk,"

Another man snorted, "Yeah, no shit, Tanaka, got anything else or are you wasting my time?" He sounded angry.

Ryuzaki was silent, Alice noticed, but she knew that he was whizzing through a million different plans in his head to get her out of there.

The third man was silent but Alice could hear his footsteps as he slowly approached the desk. Her heart was hammering in fear as she heard a gun cocking.

Ryuzaki cursed on the other side of the comm. and Alice could hear him frantically typing before the legs of the man came into her view.

"There's no one here." He said, and Alice was thankful for her black attire and tiny body.

He strode to the other side of the desk and the three left the room, but Alice didn't hear them walking back down the corridor.

"Get out of there, Alice." Ryuzaki ordered seriously, any traces of the humour before long gone.

He didn't have to tell her twice. Alice slid the drawer open and gathered all the documents inside, not wanting to stop and check them, before slowly standing from her crouch.

And then, the door opened once more.

She winced as a bright light shone in her face, the man behind the torch smirking.

"Looks more like a little mouse than a rat to me," he gloated, three guns pointing directly at Alice.

Alice herself decided that false confidence was the best way to go in this situation.

She stood up fully, resting one hand on her hip as the other clutched the documents to her chest. She grinned cockily at them as the breeze from the open window caressed her heated skin.

"Ever wondered if mice could fly?" She questioned as she stared at the men.

They looked confused for a brief moment before Alice spun on her heels and bolted for the open window. Gunshots rang out, but each missed her as Alice vaulted through the open window.

In her haste, Alice missed the three men falling to the floor, clutching their chests in agony as their hearts gave out.

"Alice!" She heard Ryuzaki shout, "You're thirteen stories up!" He sounded worried but Alice wasn't.

She whooped loudly, the concrete beneath for feet cracked as she landed heavily onto it, completely unharmed.

Sprinting through the Tokyo streets in the dead of night, Alice grinned, climbing buildings and scaffolding to freerun across the city, unhindered and unharmed by the danger that would kill any normal human.

But Alice wasn't a normal human, and she hated having to pretend she was.

Ryuzaki was telling her off but she ignored him, instead she focusing on the wind in her hair and the heart beating in her chest.

"I'm alive!" She yelled in exhilaration, "And I might not have been!"

Ryuzaki sighed in her ear but she knew that a small, fond smile was gracing his lips at the moment.

The hotel they were staying in was The Peninsula Tokyo and Alice grinned in relief as she saw Ginza shopping centre, knowing that she wa sjust around the corner from the hotel.

"Enter from the window," Ryuzaki instructed.

Alice nodded again and began scaling the balconies that reliably held her light weight as she clibed higher and higher to reach their suite.

She smiled, "Don't worry, Rapunzel, I'm coming," she snarked but Ryuzaki didn't reply, she couldn't even hear him typing so she presumed that he was preoccupied.

Rain started to fall but Alice was nearly at their window, hand gripping the railing and with a final pull she was on their balcony and climbing over the railing.

Waiting for her was Ryuzaki with the last slice of strawberry cake on a plate balanced in his pale hand, offering it to her.

Alice grinned, taking the strawberry of the top and popping it in her mouth, "You can have the rest." She said as she walked into the hotel suite, Ryuzaki followed her, already devouring the cake.

She placed the documents of the coffee table and took off to have a well-earned shower.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey dudes, hope you enjoyed the first chapter, here's the second.

Alice found herself on another boring recon mission. Since the appearance of this so-called Kira, she and found all of their open cases plopped onto her lap while Ryuzaki focused his full attention onto the ever elusive Kira.

She stretched, knocking the binoculors of her lap accidentally as Alice yawned. She'd only just completed her last assingment before Ryuzaki sent her out again, not even letting her sleep.

Sometimes she really hated her job.

As Alice was daydreaming of fluffy pillows and a nice duvet, she almost missed the school student talking to himself. Almost.

Usually something like this bore no interest to Alice's mind nor did it pertain to anything she worked on, but the boy was clearly having a conversation with someone else, someone that wasn't visible. She saw no phone either, or headset, and decided that such an ordinary young man looked out of place talking to himself.

The recon wasn't turning up anything interesting, so Alice decided to investigate the student.

He wore a local school uniform, and appeared to be engrossed in his half-conversation. And then Alice noticed him stop dead in the street and turn to look directly at her.

"Are you lost?" He asked, voice sweet but held a menacing edge. The kid appeared to be only seventeen or so, a few years younger than Alice, but he towered over her.

She grinned, replying in English sheepishly, "I'm sorry, wait no, gomenasai! I'm kinda...lost..." she played on her tourist appearance.

The boy relaced minutely, eyes flickering to the side so quickly that Alice was glad she didn't blink for she surely would have missed it.

"You're English?" He asked in English, Alice nodded, and he seemed to shift a little. She blinked, moving her hair out of her eyes. She swore she just saw something in her peripheral vision?

The boy smiled pleasantly, "I'm Light Yagami, would you like me to help you find your way?" he offered and Alice nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh! Would you!? This is my first time in Tokyo and honestly, I just got so lost wandering! I'm trying to get to Shibuya station, is it far from here? Oh! And I'm Erica Brook, by the way." She asked sweetly.

Light ate it up, just like she wanted him too. He seemed to really buy into her stupid female tourist bullshit.

He chuckled, "Of course, it's just this way." He gestured to the end of the street. Of course, Alice was well-aware of where Shibuya station was but he didn't need to know that.

A dark chill crept over her shoulders, and Alice was certaint hat she was being followed. A quick scan revealed nothing though, and Alice was well-trained. She and Light were not alone, she was certain of it. She brushe her hair again, annoyed that it was getting in her eyes and making her see things that weren't there.

"Are you alright?" Light asked and Alice mentally cursed, he must have been very perceptive to know she was on edge.

"Just nervous from being lost," she giggled, "but you must be quite observant to notice that. What is it you do, Light?" _Good_ , she thought, _this kid is weird I need to dig_.

Light shrugged, "I'm about to graduate high school and sit my entrance exams, what about you?" _An evasive answer, of course he's going to graduate and go to university,_ Alice mused.

"Well, as I said before I'm on holiday, though all this business about Kira is making me wish I stayed at home..." She set the bait and waited for Light to bite.

He tensed a little, surprise on his face and Alice knew she got him, "Kira? You've heard about that?"

She laughed, "I think everyone has heard about him now, even if no one knows who or where he is. I'm sure he'll get caught though,"

Light seemed to consider her thoughts, "What makes you say that?"

"He'll slip up, I think,, but ony time will tell," Alice swatted at her hair again, annoyed that she kept seeing useless shadows out of the corner of her eye. _But what if they're not useless_ , her mind whispered, _I know better than anyone that things aren't always what they seem_.

More small talk was shared, and eventually other subjects such as Shakespeare and nihilistic theories, she discovered that Light's dad was the chief of the NPA. Interesting information that Alice was certain to relay to Ryuzaki when she saw him again.

"Well, we're here!" Light said, smiling down at Alice as he gestured to the station.

Alice grinned, "Brilliant! Thank you so much, Light! You're a life saver!"

Light chuckled again, "I forgot to ask, Alice-san, how long are you in Tokyo for?"

"Another two weeks, then I'm off home," She seriously doubted that she would meet Light Yagami again, and for that was actually rather sad, talking with him felt like talking with a friend and she genuinely enjoyed his company. He was smart and seemed to enjoy spending time with Alice.

Light smiled pleasantly again, and Alice wasn't certain she was being manipulated or not, "Would you like to meet up again? It was refreshing to talk to someone about Shakespeare in English for once."

He was forward, at least by Japanese standards, but Alice knew that any friends she made would have to be left behind eventually.

But perhaps Ryuzaki would allow her this one indulgence? She did get awfully lonely with just Ryuzaki and Watari to talk to.

"I guess it wouldn't be a harm," she conceded.

Light grinned, opening his book bag and retrieving a school notebook. Alice wasn't certain, but she did catch sight of a strange black notebook inside with English letters inscribed onto the cover, she didn't get the chance to read it though.

"Here," Light said, handing her a piece of paper with a number scrawled neatly on it, "this is my phone number, give me a message!"

Alice waved goodbye to Light before retreating into the station.

Light's smile dropped as soon as 'Erica Brook' was out of sight."

"Are you sure she didn't have a name or number above her head?" He asked the ominous shinigami hovering near him.

"Yah," Ryuk said, doing a hand stand, "never seen that before..."

Light clenched his jaw, "Not once?"

"Nope, completely unique," Ryuk replied, "when can I get some more apples?"

Light rolled his eyes, "When I get home, have you ever heard of it before? Someone not having a name or death date?"

The shinigami grunted, "Nah, it's unheard of, every human has a death date, regardless of name or no name."

The young man was lost in thought, "Well, Erica Brook, looks like we've got a date." He smirked maliciously, Light didn't envy Erica Brook.

"So," Alice said, plopping down next to Ryuzaki on the sofa, "get anything good from the stuff I snatched?"

Ryuzaki didn't look up from his tea as he swirled the spoon around the sugary mess, "Yes,"

She raised a brow, "You gonna elaborate?"

"No," he said simply.

Alice huffed, "I nearly died, can you at least tell me it was worth it?"

Ryuzaki finally pulled his gaze away from his teacup to Alice's face, quirking his lip at the sight of her messy hair and worn pyjamas.

She kept staring at him with intense eyes before he finally snapped with a sigh, "They're dead,"

Alice frowned, "Who's dead? The guys in Mr Iwata's office?"

He nodded, "Yes, heart attacks, all of them."

"That's...odd, they seemed pretty fit to me," She replied, taking Ryuzaki's tea and sipping from it before grimacing, "Ugh, that's _disgusting."_

Ryuzaki stuck his tongue out at her, snatching away the teacup, "You're disgusting," he retorted.

Alice pretended to be hurt, draping her arm over the sofa back and yelling into the suite, "Watari! Ryuzaki's bullying me!"

Ryuzaki scoffed, "It's hardly bullying when it's the truth,"

She gasped, "Ryuzaki! Why would you say such things! You'll give me a heart attack!"

"Your comedic timing is the worst," he deadpanned.

Alice giggled, accepting a glass of orange juice from Watari with a quick smile of thanks, "I think you mean the best."

Ryuzaki shook his head, "Definitely the worst, but that doesn't matter, deaths like these have been popping up all over Japan..."

"Just Japan?" Alice questioned. It did seem awfully fishy...

Ryuzaki looked impressed, "Yes, just Japan, there's something strange going on here." He added more sugar cubes to his tea, and two to Alice's juice which she swatted his hand at for.

"Want me to do some recon? A lil peak around?" She offered, swiping the sugar cubes from her juice and plopping them into his tea. She smirked at his grimace.

He shook his head, "Unnecessary right now, but do go through these," he handed her a hefty folder, "and tell me what you think."

Alice groaned, "I much prefer field work..." she complained, but complied to his request, beginning to leaf through the folder and draw her own conclusions.

Ann hour passed before Alice had finished reading the folder and all the deaths that were inside. The sun was high in the sky and streaming in through the big windows and lighing up the suite, Ryuzaki seemed to try and hide behind Alice's small frame from the sun's rays.

And from what Alice gathered, Ryuzaki wasn't going to be vocal about his own opinion of the folder until she spoke first.

"These deaths are not during school hours, and they're all criminals," Alice concluded, "I guess the murderer is a student of some kind? But that's insane, the deaths are too close together in such a short time and they're all heart attacks? How could someone pull such a feat off?" She was confused.

"Admiring the murderer?" Ryuzaki questioned.

Alice glared at him, "Hardly, but it is extraordinary to manage such a thing..."

"Exactly," Ryuzaki said, "this is not ordinary by any means, I was thinking the exact same thing," he smiled at her, "good work, Alice."

She grinned back, "See, I'm not a complete lost cause!"

Ryuzaki chuckled, "I'm sending Watari to contact the Japanese Police Force, I think we may need assistance with this case."

Alice's smile faded and instead was replaced by a concerned frown, "It's that bad? You think we need back up? But what about the boys? Wouldn't they be better?"

"No, they aren't ready yet, even with our assistance, we're better with the police and I've already got a plan to catch Kira." Ryuzaki said, building a sugar cube tower.

"Kira? That's what you're calling the suspect?" She asked.

Ryuzaki gently pushed his laptop towards Alice. 41,800,000 results for 'Kira' on Google search, and most of them to do with the mysterious deaths.

"How notorious..." Alice mused as she searched multiple websites, "He's not exactly being discreet, is he?"

Ryuzaki grinned, "No, and that's my plan."

Alice's smile returned, "Yeah? What is it?"

"What do you know of Lind. L. Taylor?"

 _So Ryuzaki was going to bait the guy out_ , Alice mused, _and he expects him to fall for it?_

Alice rarely doubted Ryuzaki, he'd proven his mental prowess time and time again but this time? She didn't see it working, only a prideful idiot would fall for trick like this.

But perhaps that was what Kira was? Just an idiot with pride that Ryuzaki could topple easily.

After all, it takes one to know one.

And even if he was wrong, and Kira didn't only need a name and a face to kill, then Taylor would live and meet the death penalty anyway.

It was gamble either way, but L also won this round either way too. The best Kira could do would be to just ignore it, provided that he worked out what Ryuzaki was planning, which was an extremely difficult thing to do for even an average genius.

But still, if he does only need a name and a face to kill then Taylor would definitely be murdered.

Alice was suddenly thankful that even she didn't know her own name.

The broadcast was about to begin and Alice settled herself onto the comfy sofa next to Ryuzaki, who was attempting to balance his 25th sugar cube on his tower, the sun shined cheerfully but apprehension settled in Alice's chest at the plan. She had a terrible feeling that this was the beginning of the end, that the fire was going to rage and burn them both.

Of course, she didn't voice these thoughts to Ryuzaki and she doubted he would give her a response worht listening to anyway.

"We'd like to apologize for the interruption. As of now we're bringing you a live world wide broadcast from Interpol, ICPO." The announcer said, interrupting the commercials they were watching. Alice stared wide eyed.

"We now take you live to the ICPO."

Ryuzaki leaned forward, "And so it begins..." Alice glanced at him, the only reaction to his ominous tone.

A man popped up on the screen. He had black hair and was clean cut in a nice crisp suit. Lind L. Tailor, Alice sucked in her breath, hairs raising on the back of her neck as a strong sense of foreboding overtook her entire body. Kira was going to take the bait, she just knew it.

Tailor spoke, "I head up an international police task force which includes all member nations.  
I am Lind L. Tailor, otherwise known as L. " It seemed even the birds outside were quiet in their chirping, Alice noted.

"Criminals around the world are being murdered by a serial killer. I consider this crime to be the most atrocious act of murder in history. I will not rest until the person or persons responsible are brought to justice. Kira, I will hunt you down, I will find you." Tailor continued.

Alice crossed her arms, "He's committed to his role, it seems."

Ryuzaki didn't reply.

"Kira, I've got a pretty good idea what your motivation might be and I can guess what you hope to achieve.  
However, what you are doing right now is evil." Tailor said, a firm glare in his eye and Alice was uncertain whether Ryuzaki had written the script or if Tailor was now merely improvising.

He was silent for too long, Alice thought, and when it appeared Tailor was going to speak he suddenly clutched his chest, coughing before falling into a slump.

For a few seconds, there was nothing but still silence.

And then there was a cacophany of noise and action, many men rushed to the scene to gather Tailor's body and Ryuzaki lurched forward, nearly knocking Alice over.

The lights in the hotel room went out and they were only illuminated by the computer monister, Rysuzaki leaning over to speak into the microphone.

"I had to test this just in case but I, I've never thought it would actually happen." He sounded incredulous, even to Alice's ears, but didn't need to stop to process the information, "Kira, it seems you can kill people without having to be there in person. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't just witnessed it. Listen to me, Kira." his tone changed, and Alice remained silent, her curios gaze latched onto the back of Ryuzaki's head.

"If you did indeed kill Lind L. Tailor, the man you just saw die on television, I should tell you that he was an inmate, whose execution was scheduled for today." She could almost imagine Kira's rage at the mocking tone in Ryuzaki's voice, detectable even with a voice scrambler.

" _That was not me._ " A powerful statement that echoed throughout Tokyo. The first point of this game had gone to L, and as Alice watched his glee for the first time, usually she was out in the field when he did this stuff, she realised that his voice and tone was eerily familiar, locked away in a dark place in her mind.

She didn't get to think on it for too long because Ryuzaki wasn't finished, "The police arrested him in absolute secrecy, so you wouldn't have heard about him on TV or through the internet. It appears not even you have access to information about these types of criminals."

"But I assure you L is real. I do exist. Now try to kill me." His voice never wavered, not even once.

"What's wrong? Hurry up!" Alice could feel the seconds ticking by but Ryuzaki didn't falter and showed no sings of ill health. Kira couldn't do it, he couldn't kill L.

Ryuzaki continued to goad him, "C'mon. Right now."

"What are you waiting for? You've got to do it." Alice considered intervening but decided against it. Kira had too many supporters, and L couldn't risk being undermined by his strongest chess piece.

His voice rose, the ire and passion in it striking Alice and all those that listened, "Come on! Try to kill me!" But unlike others, Alice had a front row seat to one of the greatest showdowns in recent history and already she could feel the tendrils of time fortifying this moment. It would be referenced in school textbooks and involved in exams, no doubt. And Alice wasn't certain if that was good or bad.

"What's the matter? Can't you do it? Well, Kira, it seems that you can't kill me after all." Naturally, Ryuzaki ws right again.

"So there are some people you can't 've given me a useful me return the favor. I'll tell you something that I think you'll find interesting." Ryuzaki continued.

"Although this was announced as a worldwide broadcast, the truth is, we are only broadcasting in the Kanto region of Japan.I had planned to broadcast this message around the world until we found you, but it looks that won't be necessary. I now know where you are." Alice desperately wished she could see Kira's expression, she was certain that Ryuzaki's win would be infuriating the murderer wherever he was.

"The police treated your first killing as an unrelated incident, but, in actuality, the first of your victims was a suspect in Shinjuku." Ryuzaki recited the evidence they had discovered already, his hand twitching on his knee.

"Of all the criminals that have recently died of heart attacks, this one's crime was by far the least serious.  
Furthermore his crime was only ever reported inside Japan. I used that information to deduce this much.  
You are in Japan. And your first victim was little more than an experiment, which means that you haven't been killing for very long." He continued.

Alice rose from her seat, placing one socked foot in front of the other and slowly, cautiously, walked around the coffee table.

Ryuzaki sounded elated, "We decided to broadcast in Kanto first because of its large population, and luckily we found you. To be completely honest with you, I never expected that things would go this well, but it won't be too long now before I'm able to sentence you to death."

She rounded the coffee table to stand directly behind the computer, facing Ryuzaki – _no_ , facing _L_.

"Naturally I'm very interested to know how you are able to commit these murders without being present, but I don't mind waiting a little bit longer. You can answer all of my questions when I catch you. Let's meet again soon, Kira." His eyes never left the screen before him, face eerily illuminated by the glowing light.

"I will hunt you down wherever you're hiding and I will eliminate you!" In his eye, Alice could see a glint of madness and in his voice Alice could hear an echo of insanity. L was unsettling. L was brilliant. L was _speaking directly into her soul_.

" _I am justice_!" And Alice believed him, truly and utterly.


End file.
